The collecting of sports cards, and particularly baseball cards, as both a hobby and for investment purposes has become a popular pastime for many individuals. Such sports cards generally have an elongate, rectangular shape and depict a professional player in a particular sport. The depiction is generally in the form of a photograph of the player which typically appears on one face of the card, with the other face including printed matter, such as performance statistics, team affiliations, or other information relevant to the depicted player.
With particular respect to baseball cards, as is well known to baseball card collectors, the economic value of the baseball card is primarily dependent upon its age, physical condition, and rarity. With regard to the physical condition of the card, oftentimes the frayed edges of older cards are trimmed by the card owner so as to enhance the card's appearance by eliminating the apparent damage to the edges thereof. Though this procedure may serve to enhance the card's appearance, such alteration diminishes the value of the baseball card.
Though many prior art display devices are currently known for encasing and protecting sports cards such as baseball cards, such devices possess certain inherent deficiencies which detract from their overall utility. In one popular prior art storage method, one or more baseball cards are maintained between sheets of a transparent, flexible plastic material. Though the plastic sheets serve to protect the cards, the sheets do not prevent the cards from being inadvertently folded or bent due to their lack of rigidity. Additionally, in the use of such plastic sheets as well as other prior art devices wherein flat panels are tightly pressed against the intervening baseball card, it has been found that over time the surfaces of the card may adhere to the plastic, thereby causing damage to the card when such is removed from between the plastic sheets or panels.
In other prior art baseball card storage devices, the baseball cards are stored in oases which are sealed through the utilization of certain glues. However, it has been found that the solvent vapors from the glue may be deleterious to the picture on the baseball card in long-term storage. Additionally, many prior art baseball card storage devices are configured in a manner wherein the baseball card may be easily damaged when being inserted thereinto or removed therefrom. Moreover, prior art storage devices are generally not adapted to provide a k, visual indication as to whether the baseball card has been altered, i.e. has had the edges thereof trimmed. The present invention overcomes these and other deficiencies associated with prior art baseball card/sports card storage and display devices.